North Branch Land Trust
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237755642
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Dallas, PA, USA
- Phone
- 5703101781
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Land Resources Conservation
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $603,003
- Expenses
- $572,318
- Assets
- $8,369,532
- Liabilities
- $1,006,415
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- ELLEN FERRETTI (EXECUTIVE DI): $109,730 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of nblt is to partner with landowners, communities, and stakeholders to conserve and care for northeastern Pennsylvania's lands and waters.
What it reported doing in 2024
Land conservation nblt holds 61 conservation easements on over 12,470 acres of natural land in bradford, columbia, lackawanna, luzerne, sullivan, susquehanna, wayne and Wyoming counties of northeastern Pennsylvania. Each easement requires annual monitoring to determine if any violations of restrictions provided for under the conservation easements have occurred on the land. Fee-owned lands nblt owns and manages several properties in our service area for the benefit of the public and for the protection of rare and endangered plant and animal species. Most of these lands are open to the public from dawn to dusk for passive recreation activities while some lands are closed or open by appointment only due to the fragile nature of the ecosystem found there. The land trust welcomes and accepts gifts of conservation land and other property providing that all land trust policies and procedures governing the acquisition of the land or other property are adhered to.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 61
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 58
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 72.1%; rating input score 72
- Program expense ratio: 60.8%; rating input score 61
- Fundraising efficiency: $2.65 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 5.1%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 14.62; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 19.2%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -23.4% per year; rating input score 0; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -8.7% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 72.1% of revenue deployed · 60.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $348K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $110K · 20 people listed
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
- People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 8/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 50/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 16/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.